Did you know that women in the western and eastern world approach, experience and treat menopause completely differently?
What causes this disparity?
And how can you have a smooth menopausal transition? Read to learn more:
Chinese Medicine includes acupuncture, herbs, diet, tuina which is massage and bone setting, qi gong which is exercise, and moxibustion, which is heat therapy.
What causes this disparity?
And how can you have a smooth menopausal transition? Read to learn more:
Chinese Medicine includes acupuncture, herbs, diet, tuina which is massage and bone setting, qi gong which is exercise, and moxibustion, which is heat therapy.
I am only going to address diet and lifestyle in this article. Changes you can make on your own. If your symptoms are severe I recommend getting personalized care from your local Chinese Medicine practitioner, who can perform acupuncture, moxibustion and prescribe herbal medicine to help you.
First let’s compare how women experience menopause in the West and East:
Vaginal dryness, hot flashes, night-sweats, mood changes, fatigue and sleep problems are considered the norm for women in Western Countries. This is completely different compared to the asian countries where majority of women never actually experience any severe discomfort.
First let’s compare how women experience menopause in the West and East:
Vaginal dryness, hot flashes, night-sweats, mood changes, fatigue and sleep problems are considered the norm for women in Western Countries. This is completely different compared to the asian countries where majority of women never actually experience any severe discomfort.
Now let’s look at how the symptoms of menopause are treated differently:
Menopause itself is not a “disease” it’s a gradual physiological phase in a woman’s life during which she makes the transition from a reproductive to a non-reproductive stage. Menopause requires no medical treatment. To treat the symptoms of menopause: Western Medicine utilizes Hormone Replacement Therapy and drugs such as Vaginal Estrogen, Low Dose Antidepressants and medications to prevent or treat osteoporosis and sleeping problems. Since women in asian countries do not have severe symptoms, they do not generally seek medical attention either.
Menopause itself is not a “disease” it’s a gradual physiological phase in a woman’s life during which she makes the transition from a reproductive to a non-reproductive stage. Menopause requires no medical treatment. To treat the symptoms of menopause: Western Medicine utilizes Hormone Replacement Therapy and drugs such as Vaginal Estrogen, Low Dose Antidepressants and medications to prevent or treat osteoporosis and sleeping problems. Since women in asian countries do not have severe symptoms, they do not generally seek medical attention either.
Huge difference. What is the secret? You may be wondering.
The secret lies in the dietary and lifestyle choices asian women make throughout their lives.
Chinese Medicine believes we are born with a certain amount of very special substance, called Jing.
Our Jing is a mixture of Yin and Yang. We can’t increase the amount we have, it is given to us when we are born and is based on our parent’s health at the time of our conception. Therefore some have very strong Jing, some very weak. But it is what we do with what we have matters most. A balanced mindset, quality rest and sleep, moderate lifestyle, exercise routine and proper diet allow our body to transform food into vital essences that we use as energy throughout the day. When all done well, the body works off of what we are making each day and we leave our Jing alone for times of emergency, such as work deadlines, or the last 5miles of the marathon. Think of this Jing as like a savings account that you use only when it’s absolutely necessary. From a Chinese Medicine’s perspective, menopause is a decline of this Jing. Menopausal symptoms can be different if the yin or yang aspect is out of balance, however, within this basic pathology there can be many variations of patterns.
The secret lies in the dietary and lifestyle choices asian women make throughout their lives.
Chinese Medicine believes we are born with a certain amount of very special substance, called Jing.
Our Jing is a mixture of Yin and Yang. We can’t increase the amount we have, it is given to us when we are born and is based on our parent’s health at the time of our conception. Therefore some have very strong Jing, some very weak. But it is what we do with what we have matters most. A balanced mindset, quality rest and sleep, moderate lifestyle, exercise routine and proper diet allow our body to transform food into vital essences that we use as energy throughout the day. When all done well, the body works off of what we are making each day and we leave our Jing alone for times of emergency, such as work deadlines, or the last 5miles of the marathon. Think of this Jing as like a savings account that you use only when it’s absolutely necessary. From a Chinese Medicine’s perspective, menopause is a decline of this Jing. Menopausal symptoms can be different if the yin or yang aspect is out of balance, however, within this basic pathology there can be many variations of patterns.
Now let’s look at diet because asian people also have a very different view on how they approach nutrition.
In the west for the most part we tend to eat whatever we want, whenever we want it. We are not limited by seasons, local availability and our eating is rarely constrained by any consideration beyond our personal taste, cravings and convenience. We usually only regulate our eating for aesthetic purposes and we rather take supplements and medications than change our diet. In the west we classify foods by their vitamin, mineral and calorie content, or how many grams of protein, carb or fat a food contains.
In Chinese Medicine food is medicine and balance is key. Foods are wisely chosen and prepared for balancing and regulating the body. Foods are classified by their nutritional and healing benefits according to their flavor, color, energy, movement and action. Foods are categorized as yin, yang or neutral. Yin foods are believed to calm, cool and moisturize. Yang foods are more nourishing, they stimulate circulation and generate body heat.
Foods are selected to correspond to an individual’s constitution and modified based on lifestyle, environment, climate, and season. FE a skinny person living in hot and dry Arizona would require a completely different diet from someone heavier living up in cold and damp Alaska.
In the west for the most part we tend to eat whatever we want, whenever we want it. We are not limited by seasons, local availability and our eating is rarely constrained by any consideration beyond our personal taste, cravings and convenience. We usually only regulate our eating for aesthetic purposes and we rather take supplements and medications than change our diet. In the west we classify foods by their vitamin, mineral and calorie content, or how many grams of protein, carb or fat a food contains.
In Chinese Medicine food is medicine and balance is key. Foods are wisely chosen and prepared for balancing and regulating the body. Foods are classified by their nutritional and healing benefits according to their flavor, color, energy, movement and action. Foods are categorized as yin, yang or neutral. Yin foods are believed to calm, cool and moisturize. Yang foods are more nourishing, they stimulate circulation and generate body heat.
Foods are selected to correspond to an individual’s constitution and modified based on lifestyle, environment, climate, and season. FE a skinny person living in hot and dry Arizona would require a completely different diet from someone heavier living up in cold and damp Alaska.
So to recap what you read so far: lifestyle and dietary habits determine what kind of menopause a woman is going to have. If a woman has a poor diet and if she depletes her Jing savings account she will be more likely to develop severe symptoms during menopause. If the body is in balance, the woman incorporates healthy meals with a variety of flavors and foods, symptoms will not be severe or disruptive.
Thinking about diet and lifestyle this way may be a new concept for us living in the United States, it’s actually not difficult, just very different, not something we grow up with.
Now I want to offer some practical tips on what simple dietary and lifestyle changes you can make on your own to have a smooth menopause transition.
As I mentioned earlier menopause is a natural decline of our Jing, but symptoms can be different if the yin or yang aspect is out of balance. Therefore you should chose foods, herbs and spices according to your own unique symptoms.
If your symptoms are vaginal dryness, hot flushes, dry mouth, dry hair, dry skin, constipation, forgetfulness you are showing the signs of what we call in Chinese Medicine is yin deficiency. You will benefit from adding two - three servings of cooling and moisturizing foods to your diet: FE: watermelon, green tea, peppermint tea, cucumber, celery, pears, cabbage, cauliflower. Basically follow a plant based diet. You should avoid eating warming, drying, hot and spicy foods such as chilies, curries, and spices such as cinnamon, garlic, ginger, onion, wasabi, also limit your intake of coffee, cigarettes and alcohol.
Thinking about diet and lifestyle this way may be a new concept for us living in the United States, it’s actually not difficult, just very different, not something we grow up with.
Now I want to offer some practical tips on what simple dietary and lifestyle changes you can make on your own to have a smooth menopause transition.
As I mentioned earlier menopause is a natural decline of our Jing, but symptoms can be different if the yin or yang aspect is out of balance. Therefore you should chose foods, herbs and spices according to your own unique symptoms.
If your symptoms are vaginal dryness, hot flushes, dry mouth, dry hair, dry skin, constipation, forgetfulness you are showing the signs of what we call in Chinese Medicine is yin deficiency. You will benefit from adding two - three servings of cooling and moisturizing foods to your diet: FE: watermelon, green tea, peppermint tea, cucumber, celery, pears, cabbage, cauliflower. Basically follow a plant based diet. You should avoid eating warming, drying, hot and spicy foods such as chilies, curries, and spices such as cinnamon, garlic, ginger, onion, wasabi, also limit your intake of coffee, cigarettes and alcohol.
If your symptoms are hot flushes, but you also notice that your hands and feet are cold, or you feel cold often, tend towards diarrhea, you experience night sweating, but in the early morning hours, your face is pale, often feel depressed and fatigued you are showing the signs of what Chinese Medicine calls - yang deficiency. Because your own fire is low, most of your food choices should be coming from warming foods such as stocks, broths, chilies, lamb, beef, chicken, prawn, onion, pineapple, mango, cherry, peanuts, and use warming spices for cooking such as ginger, clove, cayenne, cardamon, cinnamon, rosemary, turmeric, nutmeg, and drink black, not green tea. You should avoid raw fruits and vegetables, salads, sprouts, refrigerated and iced drinks, ice cream. Basically choose cooked foods over cold smoothies, health bars, sandwiches and salads.
Tips for lifestyle modifications, I am not going to share any new secrets here. Or maybe this is a secret because everyone is looking for a complicated answer and no-one pays attention to the basics. I think it’s really important to calm and slow down and not burn the candle on both ends at once. Do less, if that’s what’s needed. Also, prepare your meals ahead on Sundays for the week, instead of eating out every day.
Make time for sleep, maybe watch less tv or spend less time on instagram. And start meditation practice or incorporate breath work in your daily routine.
If this was a new concept for you and if you’ve never heard about any of this, take your time digesting all we just went through. Definitely be curios, find some new recipes, incorporate more flavors and bring variety to your diet every day. Make time for yourself bc it's important.
And be patient. Making changes throughout diet and will not be as fast as if you were taking a pill. it usually takes around two months to see noticeable changes. But I personally think these are changes worth making.
Summing it all up:
By incorporating healthy meals with a variety of flavors and foods, and not touching their Jing savings account women can learn to keep balance in their lives and move through menopause more comfortably.
Make time for sleep, maybe watch less tv or spend less time on instagram. And start meditation practice or incorporate breath work in your daily routine.
If this was a new concept for you and if you’ve never heard about any of this, take your time digesting all we just went through. Definitely be curios, find some new recipes, incorporate more flavors and bring variety to your diet every day. Make time for yourself bc it's important.
And be patient. Making changes throughout diet and will not be as fast as if you were taking a pill. it usually takes around two months to see noticeable changes. But I personally think these are changes worth making.
Summing it all up:
By incorporating healthy meals with a variety of flavors and foods, and not touching their Jing savings account women can learn to keep balance in their lives and move through menopause more comfortably.
References:
Hajosi Ferenc (ob gyn - Hungary)
Cathy Margolin LAc
Giovanni Maciocia LAc
The web that has no weaver - Ted Kapchuk
Healing with Whole Foods - Paul Pitchford
Hajosi Ferenc (ob gyn - Hungary)
Cathy Margolin LAc
Giovanni Maciocia LAc
The web that has no weaver - Ted Kapchuk
Healing with Whole Foods - Paul Pitchford